I have recently been introduced to the finer points of
home theater sound.For the past
year I had been focusing almost exclusively on the video portion of my system,
a Dwin HDP-500 and TranScanner with a brief foray into convergence PCs with
the Philips DVX-8000 (Don’t get me started, I still harbor a deep seated
anger about that).I thought that
I had truly arrived when I saw that big beautiful image.My descent into home theater obsession had only just begun.I now know what an incredible difference good sound can make on the
complete movie experience.

The
DC-2 is a multifaceted beast with excellent pedigree.It is the sequel to the much-lauded DC-1. [Click here
to read a review of the DC-1]Think
of it as an eight-channel digital audio computer using eight 24-bit D/A converters
(and two 24-bit A/D converters).It
also includes a line-level preamp with eight analog inputs and eight digital inputs.You can use it to switch between five composite or S-video sources.For those with electric projection screens, it includes a bare wire
block terminal to trigger the raising and lowering of the screen.

The
work for this updated box has been dedicated to the inner workings, clearly
not its outside appeal.If this
were a blind date, the DC-2 would be described as having a great personality.The DC-1, DC-2 and MC-1 are essentially identical from the front (the
MC-1’s lights are blue instead of yellow).They have very few buttons which is an issue if your remote stops
working as mine did during this evaluation.That being said, I couldn’t care less what it looks like.I don’t look at it every day, and its “personality” more than
makes up for its plain appearance.

The base unit includes nightclub, concert hall,
church and cathedral sound settings to create different
listening environments in addition to music logic and music surround.With their proprietary Logic 7 technology, you can add left and right
side speakers.

The Lexicon performs complex calculations to extract
ambience and authentically recreate listening environments.When you close your eyes, the effect can be quite powerful.

Upgrades

Lexicon makes it easy to gradually add features as the
need (and finances) allow.If you
buy the base unit, you can send the unit to an authorized Lexicon dealer to be
upgraded with no penalty.That
is, if I had purchased the base unit and then upgraded to AC-3 and DTS support,
I would have paid the same price as someone who bought everything at the same time.While this doesn’t allow you the flexibility of a Meridian 861, it is
a good start for considerably less than $10K.

The software can also be upgraded (if any updates are
released) in the same manner.Simply
send the unit to a service center, and a week or two later, you have new software.I would have preferred to perform the update myself with a download to
my PC and a connection to the RS-232 port.Alas, that is more than the folks at Lexicon want to give us.Lexicon says they
rejected it because of piracy and interfacing issues.I don’t like it, but it’s better than no upgradability at all.

MSRP for all models and upgrades:

Options

Price

DC-2 with THX (base model)

$2,495

DC-2 with THX and AC-3

$3,495

DC-2 with THX, AC-3 and DTS

$3,995

THX>AC-3 upgrade for DC-2

$1,000

THX>DTS upgrade for DC-2

$1,500

AC-3>DTS upgrade for DC-2

$500

Setup

After I unpacked the box, I looked at the amazing
documentation.I have never
received so much detailed information about the theory of a component’s design.Lexicon includes one book explaining the hardware operation in detail
and another that discusses the theory and design of Lexicon equipment and its
establishment of acoustical “environments.”It addresses room acoustics and auditory perception in a very
approachable way.While it has a
fair amount of general information, it also includes suggestions about speaker
placement and how to acoustically tune your room (a black art if you ask me).

I selected to use the on-screen version of the controls
instead of the front panel display.This
device has more setup than your average consumer audio component, but nothing
beyond the grasp of an average Joe home-theater guy such as myself.With my trusty Radio Shack SPL meter and a tape measure, I had all the
tools I needed to set up the box.Without
an SPL meter, it is impossible to tune any home theater system, because of the
subjective perception of loudness.Most
people can get the approximate levels, but not extremely accurate.If you don’t own one, buy one.

The first screen gives you four options: effect adjust,
equalization, display adjust, and setup.Character
generated UIs (User Interface) were cool a few years ago, but now it just looks dated.It just doesn’t provide the rich functionality that you can get with
a computer based configuration tool.Being
a computer guy, I prefer the Meridian 861’s Windows-based user interface.While the Meridian UI isn’t perfect, it does afford more flexibility
than the Lexicon.If you are
curious about the Meridian UI, take a look at its review here.

Setup walks you through each option automatically.You have:

Input
config: you specify what devices are on your system

Speaker
config: number and sizes of your speakers

Output
levels: tuning with the SPL meter

Listener
positions: measurements for the room and seating position

Lock
settings: blocks other users from changing your settings

You are asked if you have large, small, or no speakers in
each of the positions (front left and right, center, sub, rear left and right,
and side left and right).Indicating
that you have small speakers simply means that the system routes low frequency
information to other speakers that can handle it properly.Low-end information is sent to other speakers that can handle sound
below 40, 80, or 120 Hz (which you specify when you select the speaker size).This brought up a question to me.Why not just simply state the cutoff instead of the small speaker
difference?Just have none, 40,
80, and 120 Hz options, or even more frequency choices.

In order to use the DC-2 to its fullest potential, you
MUST read the documentation.For
example, in the Output level screen we see enigmatic options like:

Internal
noise

External
noise

Sub-peak
limit

Z-2
pwr-on

Lexicon included some vanity features for you
to change the names of your sound modes and to have the box scroll through a
“Customized for X” option.I
changed the names of some of the modes to more accurately reflect what they
were.For example, I changed AUX
to V-GAMES since this is the input I use for my Nintendo 64.

I’m sure that most people that purchase one of these
will want to read the documentation.They
are excellently written after all.

Pros:

Simple
to set up with only an SPL meter and measuring tape.Heck, it still sounds great without dead on configuration.

Manual
is great!

Cons:

Reading
the manual
is absolutely required.

Give
me more description about what things do on screen (character generated
info is weak). Get a computer-based UI.

The
rear panel is too crowded.A
little more space would make things much easier. (This is a beef with most
equipment, not just Lexicon.)

Remote

The remote is excellent with only a few minor gripes.
The buttons have a unique shape and depress smoothly, so that the control can
be operated by touch alone.This
isn’t necessary, however, because the backlighting has been done well.There is a button in the middle of the remote to trigger the
backlight that is also photo-luminescent (it glows in the dark).Once depressed, the remote glows clearly in the same color as the front
panel of the controller.

All of the necessary controls are exposed at the top
level, while less frequently accessed features require you to press a SHIFT
button on the remote.To learn
what these do, you must use the Quick Reference Guide. Don’t lose it if you
want to use the record or zone 2 features.Not a big deal for the home theater guy.Who needs sound in another room if you’re never there?Am I right?

In another demonstration of remote
dependence, we tried to test the Lexicon’s ability to encode a Dolby Digital
stream onto an S-VHS tape.During
that attempt, the remote went out, and we were left with the limited control of
the front panel.The remote is
your lifeline to this machine.Take
care of it.

They
devoted buttons on the remote to turning the front panel and on-screen display
on and off.I personally would
leave this in the setup because I don’t change them that often.Also since there is a button to scroll through them sequentially, why
have buttons to directly access the different “effects.”Since I can change the name of any effect to whatever I wish, it makes
the buttons to directly access those effects confusing.I changed AUX to V-GAMES, but I have to remember that switch when I use
the remote.The button to cycle
through the modes makes more sense to use exclusively when you have highly
customized your Lexicon.

Pros:

Fits
well in hand (either hand).

Easily
navigated in the dark.

Backlighting
is excellent.

Cons:

Hidden
features require documentation.

Shift
options - the display doesn’t indicate that the shift key is depressed.I frequently had to press the button twice because I hadn’t
pressed it correctly.

Some
buttons are superfluous

Sound Quality

Oh yeah . . . the sound.In a word: perfect.Like
many people, my favorite segment to test DVD audio is the Diva scene from
"The Fifth Element" (Lucia di Lammermoor) because of its wide range of sound.When the curtain opens and the diva is standing in front of the
auditorium, you can close your eyes and tell that you are in front of a large
expansive opera house.Her voice
is airy and delicate with the soft, subtle orchestra sounds supporting her
voice.The soft arpeggios of the
violins are generally difficult to pick out with lower quality processors.The movie transitions from a test of subtlety to one of visceral
impact.When Leeloo is fighting
the Mangalors in the Diva’s suite, the bass is tight and controlled.However, even with all the battle noises, subtleties are not lost.When one of them strikes the piano after getting shot, you
hear the faint dissonance of the piano wire.I had never heard that until I listened through the Lexicon.

Recently Stacey Spears brought over a Sunfire
Theater Grand Preamplifier.While
that is generally a fine piece of equipment, the center channel (voices
especially) sounded a bit unfocussed and muddy.Perhaps this is due to the direct comparison that I had with the
Lexicon.Compared to the Sunfire,
the Lexicon is more accurate and much more configurable/flexible.Of course, you pay at least $500 more for the Lexicon, and these are
just my own audio perceptions.

Another favorite test passage I use is Bjork's
"It's Oh So Quiet" from her Post CD. This track, like the segment
from "The Fifth Element", runs the gamut of sound from whispers to the sudden brassy
attack of a horn section in a big band. The passage opens with violins softly
playing and Bjork whisper singing, "It's oh so quiet; It's oh so still;
you're all alone; and so peaceful until…" The horns crash in and she
growl sings "…you fall in love. Bang zoom." Bjork's vocal
gymnastics test the limits of recording equipment, and the Lexicon was right
there, accurately reproducing it. It maintains its sensitivity without sacrificing impact.

Sound Processing or How I learned to love Logic 7

This is an area where it is hard to describe the
difference if you are sitting next to someone listening to the same material.
For me to try and describe in words what you experience in sound is, well,
difficult. To paraphrase the quote, "Writing about sound processing is
like dancing about architecture." This hasn't stopped reviewers before, so here we go.

I listened to the same passages that I described above
in each of the sound modes available. I did not test its DTS sound since I
don't have a player that outputs this format. For "The Fifth Element", I
listened to Logic 7, Dolby Digital 5.1, THX 5.1, and Dolby Pro Logic. I've
ordered these modes according to my preference (in decreasing preference). One caveat though, I do not
have side speakers, just rears. A proper test would have involved these as
well. I look forward to adding these speakers to my system in the near future.

Logic 7 has a fuller sound than the other modes. I
realize that the order that I listened to these modes can drastically affect
my judgment, but my cats were not willing to help me do a randomized, blind
study. Dolby Digital sounded somewhat cold and sterile to me. Sterile? How do
you mean? I listened several times to see if I could put my finger on an
actual example to no avail. There did not seem to be a loss in detail. There
was more ambiance somehow.

The THX processing chopped off too much high end. I've
probably gotten used to an especially strong high end, but this was essentially
the same as Dolby Digital. It just sounded like I was further away from the
screen.

The difference between the first three modes and Dolby
Pro Logic was interesting. For the 5.1 channel modes, I felt completely immersed
in the sound. I was getting just enough rear channel without it growing
distracting. The sound came from all 360 degrees around me. With Pro Logic, it seemed that the sound came around the front 180
degrees, but nothing
was behind me.

For music, I was less impressed with the Lexicon's
processing. I listened to the aforementioned Bjork track in Stereo, Music
Logic, and Music Surround. Again the order reflects my preference. The stereo
sound was clean, and the imaging was great. When I added the center channel and
other speakers with Music Logic, the sound was more immersive, but I just felt
that I was sitting in the middle of the band. That just doesn't seem natural
to me, but might be pleasing to others. Music Surround sounded muffled and much less defined than the
other two modes.

The DC-2 Logic 7 processing can reassemble a 5.1 Dolby
Digital or DTS soundtrack from a 2 channel Logic 7 recording of that
soundtrack. It actually works as claimed! We used a DD
demonstration disc to record some of the Dolby Digital demo tracks in addition
to a test track where the six speakers are enumerated. The track pans
around the room announcing each speaker: Left Front, Right Front, Left
Surround, etc. When we played back this test track with Logic 7
processing, it did an excellent job of recreating the original track.
Some depth was lost in the sound, but the speakers were correctly identified
(that is the left surround speaker said "left surround.) There was
some minor bleed through of the sound. We faintly heard "right
surround" in the background of the left surround speaker. This was
a tiny flaw in a very cool feature.

In the unlikely event that you find that Logic 7 could
use some tweaking, Lexicon allows you to adjust these features (the possible
values are in parenthesis):

Auto azimuth (off/on)

Vocal enhance (0, +3 or +6 dB)

Re-equalizer (off/on)

Soundstage (rear, neutral or front)

5 speaker enhance (off/on)

Bass enhance (off/on) ·

Surround rolloff (453Hz-20kHz)

Rear delay offset (0-20ms)

Side level (off, -80dB to +5dB)

Rear level (off, -80dB to +5dB)

Subwoofer level (off, -79dB to +5dB)

Other effects (like Music Logic) have unique sets of attributes that can be
adjusted.

Wait…wasn’t there a DC-1?What’s different in the DC-2?

Basically it’s some updated hardware, new connectors
and new software. You can update the
DC-1 software to the same version that the DC-2 runs, the upgrade also
includes the new remote control. More specifically, here are the
differences between the two: